– commentary by Pete van Nuys
Neighbors who’ve enjoyed a private creek setting behind their back yards are understandably opposed to this public trail extension. They claim the creek is
“natural.” They’re confusing natural with feral.
I walked the section from the I-5 underpass to Fisher Park about 7AM one morning.
I’m no botanist but have enough Scout left in me to know a few native plants when I see ’em and I saw very few: sycamores, a couple different willows, Indian tobacco, elderberry, that’s all I could ID.
But I saw plenty of invasive species typical of Southern California stream courses where exotics outnumber the native plants. And landscaping material that “escaped” the backyards years ago.
I also saw public stairways leading down from Fisher Park, now fenced off, which tells me the creek bed was at one time considered public. Now the well worn social trail suggests a great case for proscriptive easement.
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The trail should be developed as a MultiUse Path, not just to the park but beyond to the Santa Ana River Trail. The creek is narrow west of Flower, but widens again west of Bristol to the SART. A well engineered trail could survive even down in the watercourse, flooding during storms but dry and ridable most of the year.
-edited by Sprocket
-update: According to the Santa Ana Circulation Element (pdf) portion of its General Plan under Bikeway Master Plan :
“An existing Class I bikeway runs along the banks of the Santa Ana River, the Southern Pacific railroad tracks to the south, the Santa Ana Gardens Channel, Flower Street, and along Maple Street. Proposed Class I bikeways are planned along Santiago Creek. A linkage to connect the Maple Street trail to the Alton Street trails is also planned.”
Please note it says planned, not tomorrow!